Behind The Sound Bite: Deval Patrick on the state's investment in affordable housing
During a recent visit to Worcester, Gov. Deval Patrick toured the 25-unit affordable housing project called South-gate that is currently under construction. During his tour, Patrick was quoted in an Aug. 18 article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette as saying of the Southgate project: “It’s critically important. We have the largest invest-ment in affordable housing in the country.” In this edition of Behind the Sound Bite we decided to look for the numbers supporting Patrick’s claim that Massachusetts is the number one state when it comes to affordable housing. As it turns out, it’s a tough claim to prove emphatically.
What kind of investments does Massachusetts make in affordable housing?
A lot. Patrick signed a $1.27 billion housing bond bill two years ago that supports various affordable housing programs, according to Philip Hailer, communications director of the Massachusetts Department of Housing & Community Development. The Bay State also allocates hundreds of millions of dollars from its state operating and capital improvement budgets toward affordable housing, while MassHousing, the state’s quasi-public housing lender, had a record year in fiscal year 2010, providing more than $838 million.
How does that compare to other states?
Finding state-by-state comparisons of affordable housing support is hard to come by, mostly because how you define affordable housing support can vary greatly. According to Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association in Boston, it’s hard to imagine that Massachusetts could spend more on affordable housing than large states like California and New York. However, on a per capita basis, he estimated that Massachusetts may be ahead of those states.
Is housing affordable in Massachusetts?
Not really. Based on data compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Massachusetts is still one of the most expensive states to buy a home, behind Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and California.
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